Timberwolves' elephant in room is Kevin Love, Mike Fratello says

Kevin Love can opt out of the final year of a four-year extension he signed in 2012 after next season, and reportedly has made it known to the Timberwolves he wants out. (Pioneer Press: Ben Garvin)

Kevin Love is the 6-foot-10, 243-pound elephant in any room where the next Timberwolves coach is being discussed.

Coaching the Wolves is a "terrific opportunity," former NBA coach Mike Fratello said this week, "but so much hinges on what Kevin is going to do."

A coaching search coinciding with the uncertain future of the franchise's best player is the kind of bad timing that Rick Adelman said he was trying to help the Wolves avoid by stepping down as coach five weeks ago.

Yet it's exactly what Wolves president of basketball operations Flip Saunders is fighting as he tries to replace Adelman. Fratello said Saunders' best strategy is to directly point out the elephant.

"That would be one of the first things that Flip should bring up in an interview; lay out where the Kevin Love situation is," said Fratello, the 1985-86 NBA coach of the year and an NBA TV analyst.

Adelman quit a year before his contract expired, and a year before Love can opt out of the final year of a four-year extension he signed in January 2012. The team's hope was to hire a coach who could convince Love, a three-time all-star who averaged career highs of 26.1 points and 12.5 rebounds last season, that he can win in Minnesota.

But Love's camp reportedly has told the Wolves he wants out, and the timing seemed to coincide with next month's draft, setting up a possible trade that involves draft picks.

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Memphis coach Dave Joerger heard enough from Saunders to interview with owner Glen Taylor last weekend, but the courtship unraveled Sunday when Grizzlies owner Robert Pera added years to Joerger's deal in Memphis.

So with the Wolves going back to the pool of candidates, are they hamstrung by Love's future?

"That all depends on what Flip is saying to them when they sit down," Fratello said. "Depending how he shows the options: a) life with (Love); b) life without. What we can do and what we can't do.

"Some guys may hear it and say, 'That's a fair assessment. I agree with that. Yeah, let's go do that.' Others might hear it and say, 'Oh, I don't like what I hear there.' "

If Fratello were a serious candidate, he would want to speak directly to Love.

"I would want to see where the young man is and talk about his style of play and philosophy," said Fratello, who coached 17 seasons with the Atlanta Hawks, Cleveland Cavaliers and Memphis Grizzlies. "That's what I would do, is have a sit-down and get a feel for where the young man is. You try to make that connection and you try to get a read."

"Flip has probably done it 100 times, but you have to do that and you hope that you are dealing with an honorable person that will be honest with you and (with) what the guy's thoughts are," Fratello said.

The Wolves have tried to sell Love on leaving a "legacy" in Minnesota, where the team has mostly struggled since joining the league in 1989. The team's 10-year postseason drought is the longest active skid in the NBA.

"Is (Love) going to be one of the guys that plays his entire career there?" Fratello said. "Then it's said that he turned this thing around and got them back to the playoffs. He had an impact in the playoffs and worked his way toward a championship.

"Or does he want to thank the people, move on and make somewhere else his next home? Which he's entitled to do. That is what free agency is about."

With the free agency period coming after the draft, Fratello said there is time for the Wolves to make a trade to improve Love's supporting cast.

"You have some pieces that if you wanted to, you could take and package to get maybe one other really good piece that you feel you might need," Fratello said. "There are some assets there that you could really do something with."